Hi,

I'm looking to buy a new keyboard and mouse for my computer and am not sure if there are any things I should watch out for? Are certain things better than others and is there anything that could potentially be a problem?

This is what I'm looking at buying :-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290696242029?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%3A80 %2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D290696242029%26_sacat% 3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_1146wt_905

This is what I had before :-

http://www.amazon.com/Tronic-Wireless-Keyboard-Optical-UNPLUGGED-PS2SB02/d p/B0000DIWUP

--------------------
www.richardpenrose.com

Edited by dickiefunk (09/04/12 01:55 PM)

I don't feel it's worth try to save a few pounds on unknown varieties.

The only keyboard/mouse combos I trust these days are the Microsoft and Logitec ones. Most of the others I've seen and used are poor by comparison - and the batteries in my studio keyboard and mouse last literally years!!

--------------------
An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

This Logitech set is about the same price, free postage.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-920-002997-MK260-Wireless-Desktop/dp/B004 MEXYLM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1333990200&sr=8-4

That keyboard Rich is the same 15 quid generic type that PCWorld et al sell.
I have had two of them over the years and they work extremely well. You can even use two of them side by side (son and I ) except for the fact that he who moves the mouse first gets priority.

The 2 AA's in the keyboard last for yonks but the mice eat the AAA's for brekky! Mind you I have not tried a set of super life "camera" types in them.

The battery covers are a bit feeble and I guess you get what you pay for but operationaly I cannot fault them.

Just thought. It is said that you should disable all wireless clobber in music PCs. Do these qualify and if so what about the Frontiers Tranzport?

Dave.

Quote ef37a:

---

That keyboard Rich is the same 15 quid generic type that PCWorld et al sell.
I have had two of them over the years and they work extremely well.

---

Do you mean this one or one of the others people have suggested?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290696242029?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%3A80 %2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D290696242029%26_sacat% 3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1#ht_1146wt_905

--------------------
www.richardpenrose.com

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/microsoft-2lf-00021-800-wireless-desktop-key board-and-mouse-set-07576464-pdt.html?intcmpid=display~RR~Computing~07576464

That^ is the current one I mean. Mine is very similar but bought a couple of years ago.

They do just work!

Dave.

I'd suggest that choosing a wireless keyboard and mouse would be madness, unless you have a very specific need for them. Just a point of failure waiting to happen.

Microsoft do a "business pack" or some such name, including a basic USB keyboard and the excellent USB Optical Mouse.

Quote Exalted Wombat:

---

I'd suggest that choosing a wireless keyboard and mouse would be madness, unless you have a very specific need for them. Just a point of failure waiting to happen.

Microsoft do a "business pack" or some such name, including a basic USB keyboard and the excellent USB Optical Mouse.

---

E.W. As I said I had two of those keyboards and meeces and I never had a moments trouble with either. Even as the mouse batteries died the unit would become sluggish and "sticky" and you would know it was time for a swop.

In any event, you could instantly plug in a usb kbd or mouse and that would be found and work in seconds. Heck, you could even keep them plugged in, out of the way if you wanted belts and braces!

There are only remote advantages as far as I can see. The range was about 6mtrs or through a single course brick wall but that could be extended by putting the usb reciever, a blob about 1/2 the size of a mouse, on a usb extension.

Dave.

Quote Exalted Wombat:

---

I'd suggest that choosing a wireless keyboard and mouse would be madness, unless you have a very specific need for them. Just a point of failure waiting to happen.

---

Perhaps if you have some serious cable fetish it would be madness. Otherwise it is definitely a more elegant solution.

Quote johnny h:

---

Quote Exalted Wombat:

---

I'd suggest that choosing a wireless keyboard and mouse would be madness, unless you have a very specific need for them. Just a point of failure waiting to happen.

---

Perhaps if you have some serious cable fetish it would be madness. Otherwise it is definitely a more elegant solution.

---

I find if you're working alone, or in a cramped space, wireless can be a godsend. I use a Toshiba wireless keyboard with a built in laptop style mouse pad. I also use a Logik number pad as a Cubase controller. The main benefit for me is that I can hit play/record/stop when recording acoustic guitar without moving relative to the mic. It's also stopped me dinging guitars on the desk every time I turn around

--------------------
Not much in life worth running for. Or from.

Quote Exalted Wombat:

---

I'd suggest that choosing a wireless keyboard and mouse would be madness, unless you have a very specific need for them. Just a point of failure waiting to happen.

---

Hi Exalted Wombat

Actually, sometime ago you wrote what is perhaps the most collector sentence about it:
"Barring a few special circumstances, I have always considered wireless mice and keyboards to be an unreliable solution to a non-existent problem."

i might treat my self and get one of these.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cyborg-mmo-7-gaming-mouse-black-orange-wire less-6400dpi

If it turns out to be no good as a mouse, you could always interrogate Princess Leia with it....

Are you sure that's PC, Bill?




Martin

--------------------
YewTreeMagic

I bought a wireless PC remote from eBay, about a fiver, and you can program the keys, making them respond to the existing Keyboard Commands in Cubase and my own macros I created, which in Cubase are so easy to do.

It controls transport, undo, delete last take and go back left locator and to record, cycle on/off

The only time I use the keyboard is to type in file names etc and means I can have the mic placed well away from the PC, yet control it at the same time. I have used it for some 2 years and haven't changed the battery once yet, it is one of those silver dime batteries you find in computers. Didn't require any setting up as regards USB drivers, just plugged it in and went to Cubase to assign the keys

Martin, Darth Vader may have had many faults, but sexism wasn't one of them...

On a more constructive note, I recently got a Cherry wireless mouse/keyboard set with a new IntaAudio PC. With the USB receiver dongle in the back of the PC, under the desk, the mouse was often "sticky". Fortunately I had a 1m USB extension lead which allowed the dongle to be connected through a cable hole on the desk. As soon as the mouse had clear line-of-sight to the dongle, across the desk, it worked beautifully. But who designs a mouse with USB receiver which doesn't quite work if the dongle is in the back of the computer under the desk, where computers generally are? Well, Cherry I suppose, and probably most other wireless mouse designers.

I wonder what their test labs look like? All the computers on top of the desks, with their backs facing front?

Edited by BillB (13/04/12 11:50 AM)

Bill,
The PCWorld jobby (PCline mod# PCL-K350) came with a dongle almost as big as a mouse on a 1.5mtr lead and I had mine blue tacked to the wall behind the pcs amid all my mains diss' and breakout boxes. That was a single course brick wall and as I say it worked fine from the other side.

I also agree that a wireless keyboard is not all that much of a boon but a wireless mouse has to be experienced, lovely!
Dave.

i currently use a wireless mouse and keyboard at home with my DAW and a wired mouse and keyboard in the office at work.

i have chosen a new wired mouse and keyboard for my brand new DAW.

--------------------
hourglass | random thoughts | doubledotdash!? collective

Quote The Elf:

---

The only keyboard/mouse combos I trust these days are the Microsoft and Logitec ones.

---

The wise Elf speaks much truth. For a cheap mouse the MS one's rock and if you don't mind spending more the Logitecs are awesome. Got my G500 about 6 years ago when I was in the mist of a rather heavy gaming phase and it's still working flawlessly at the moment despite being dropped, launched and slammed against pretty much every surface known to man in frustration (FPS gamers will know what I'm talking about), can't say enough good things about the build quality on that brand.

Quote BillB:

---

If it turns out to be no good as a mouse, you could always interrogate Princess Leia with it....

---

Wonder if I can get away with putting that in the product comments section...

Spent last week with one of these http://hothardware.com/News/Thermaltake-BMW-Tag-Team-New-Level-10-M-Mouse/ and I quite like the way it's leans and rolls with the hand movement... sure the price tag when revealed will make me fall over mind.

--------------------
ScanProAudio & 3XS Audio Systems
ScanProAudio Blog

Quote Exalted Wombat:

---

I'd suggest that choosing a wireless keyboard and mouse would be madness, unless you have a very specific need for them. Just a point of failure waiting to happen.

Microsoft do a "business pack" or some such name, including a basic USB keyboard and the excellent USB Optical Mouse.

---

Don't get why its madness, I have a logitech wireless set that's been perfect??

Very specific need? that rats nest of cables under my desk perhaps?

Any type of cable reduction strategy is a good one as far as I am concerned